Subscribe To

Monday, December 23, 2013

CHRISTMAS PAST - GOOD AND BAD

The struggle for Christmas is as old as
the holiday itself. It is the struggle
between those who view it as a sacred day, meant for worship, thanksgiving to
God, and family bonding and those who see it as a time to party, profit, and
play. In the time of the English Civil
War, George Withers wrote the following:

"So,
now is come our joyful'st feast;

Let
every man be jolly;

Each
room with ivy leaves is drest

And
every post with holly.

Though
some churls at our mirth repine,

Round
your foreheads garlands twine;

Drown
sorrow in a cup of wine,

And
let us all be merry.”

The uncivil low class boors
(churls) of that day were dismissed by the poet for their complaining and
disapproval of the drunken celebration. They were no doubt the simple religious
folk who had to put up with the besotted on a holy day. Doesn't this ring a
bell? Isn't this the same dichotomy we find today in human behavior? It was
considered anti-social to refrain from the party to fast and pray: A HINT
TO THE FANATICS
(From "Poor Robin's Almanack," 1711
"Christmas day approaches near,
Trim up the house with holly,
And set abroach the strongest beer,
For neighbours to be jolly.
Let fanatics old customs blame,
Yet Christmas is a High day,
Though they will fast upon the same,
And feast upon Good Friday."

In the book Little House in the Big Woods,
Laura Ingalls Wilder tells of the Christmas she received Charlotte, her rag
doll.Laura Ingalls Wilder was born in
1867, so her story relates to Christmas in 1870's Wisconsin.By that time Christmas customs were changed
considerably from those of a generation earlier. When we think of Christmas
past we think of families together, decorated Christmas trees and the wonder of
children opening gifts wrapped with bright paper, ribbons, and bows.That is not the way it has always been.Christmas tradition has changed many times
over the centuries and what we have now are customs added layer by layer over
the centuries; an amalgam build by new waves of immigrants coming to our
country. The Christmas tree and Candy cane came from the Germans.Eggnog, Christmas pudding and Mistletoe came from
the English.Saint Nicholas was the
contribution of the Dutch.In the
Netherlands and parts of Germany and Austria “Sinterklass” and his helper
filled shoes (we have made it stockings) with treats.In German speaking areas of Europe “Saint
Nikolaus” comes with an evil figure called "Krampus".Saint Nicholas gives gifts to well behaved
children and Krampus either beats bad children, or, if they are particularly
bad he captures them in his sack and carries them away to his lair.Obviously, this is not a joyful prospect for
children so I think we can do without that custom.The first commercial Christmas cards were
manufactured by Sir Henry Cole in London in 1843.

Most of us have read at times
the stories of Christmas' pagan roots in the Roman winter solstice celebrations
and sun worship.The church fathers
wisely kept native celebration days and changed their purposes as the faith
spread throughout the world.In 1645,
with the ascendancy of the Puritans to power, the celebration of Christmas was
outlawed.The celebration, the Puritans
believed, was a hedonist atrocity characterized by drinking, bear baiting, and debauchery.They believed there was no biblical
justification

for celebrating on the 25th of December, or for that matter for celebrating
the birth of Christ at all.To the
Puritan the true Christian should be modest and prayerful every day, not given
to feasting and revelry.This was not
what December 25th produced in their experience.Pilgrim suppression of the customary
activities of Christmas made them hated fanatics in the eyes of many English citizens,
but the entertainments of the day were, as we would say "Over the
top."From 1659 to 1681 the
Puritans of New England outlawed Christmas celebrations for the same reason
their English brethren had.

We need look no further than the
popular sport of bear baiting to see what I mean by “over the top.”Spectators sat around a ring in which a bear
was chained.The beast was set upon by
vicious dogs. Desperately defending itself the bear ripped with its terrible
claws and crushed with its powerful jaws. Krampus and Saint
Nikolaus Multiple canines attacked from all sides.The bear killed or maimed them one after
another; bloody mayhem for a crowd of inebriated, cheering onlookers.Today this bloody sport is still practiced in
Pakistan.

Were our ancestors any
better?To be sure, such spectacles were
outlawed in early New England, but not in the south.In the Virginia colonies they tried to keep
up the traditions of the old world, so blood sports, alcohol, and parties ruled
the holiday.We need not entertain a
sense of superiority however.On
Christmas day of 1850 the entertainment at Lancaster was -- bear baiting!In the 1881 History of Grant County is found
the following:"Among the early
sports of the new country, which at times afforded much amusement, was bear and
dog fights...A performance of this kind was advertised for Christmas day in
this year, and resulted as usual (the bear killing or maiming the dogs), after
which followed the inevitable resort to the hotel for liquid refreshment, but,
in the language of one of the earlier settlers, "the whiskey was better
then than now", and only the best of humor was the result of these
bacchanalian revivals."Another
common attraction was wolf and dog fights.Both "amusements" were accompanied by wagering on the
result.

Christmas was not about children and their
gifts before the middle of the19th century.A stoic practicality forbade such silliness among the religious protestants,
and for the rest entertainment for the adults was more the order of the
day.Christmas Balls were one popular
means to keep the holiday, and children were usually not welcome.Both the Denniston House in Cassville, and
Barnetts in Boscobel hosted balls attended by folks from all over the county.
Think of Fezziwig's Ball from Dicken's A Christmas Carol: dancing, singing,
food and drinking.

And so we have created our own
American ways of celebrating Christmas; some sacred, some joyful, some over the
top, but we are on the whole no better or worse than those of olden days.Those who seek the true meaning of Christmas
will approach it with reverence and joy.Those who don’t particularly give a damn will use it as an excuse for
excess.A little mischief does not make
a scoundrel.A little church going does
not make a saint.We live in the middle
of many merging cultures, and we can expect that as we have adopted foreign
cuisines, we may in the future incorporate the customs of others into
Christmas.It should be interesting.nks, games, and kisses under the mistletoe.